In Latvia every third woman has suffered from physical or sexual violence. The exposure to such violence leads to far-reaching negative emotional effects and long lasting suffering not only for women themselves, but also for the children, who have witnessed the violence at the hands of adults.

Unfortunately, majority members of society often feel unease and embarrassment when asked to directly confront violence or provide help to either women or children suffering from abuse. Furthermore, in many cases the victims themselves have difficulty to ask for help. The psychological impact of repeated emotional or physical abuse often results in complete annihilation of the self-esteem of the victim. Women often prefer to forget everything as quickly as possible and never talk about the experienced abuse again.

In order to help woman suffering from physical or emotional violence, the individually tailored assistance, including legal and psychological support, is an absolute must. Thus, the coordination between various government institutions and agencies is a key to ameliorate the conditions of children and women suffering from domestic violence.

MARTA Centre concluded that the average costs of assistance for one woman are 540 EUR. One consultation costs 27 EUR.

MARTA Centre

During last 17 years MARTA Centre has helped thousands of women and children in Latvia victimised by either experience of domestic violence or human trafficking or even economic inequality and insecurity.

In average, MARTA Centre helps around 400 women each year to leave their abusive relationships and provides around 1000 meetings by social worker, 300 sessions with psychologist and 800 consultations by lawyers.

MARTA Centre is a non-governmental organisation in Latvia, dedicated to advocacy of women and children rights. MARTA Centre is always looking for innovative and comprehensive solutions, based on best practices around the world to help women and children in complicated life situations and suffering from violence and abuse.

MARTA Centre provides professional help to women and children in need, supports youth in their personality development and believes that the change is possible, when people both actively participate with their ideas and influence political decisions.

During last 17 years MARTA has helped thousands of women and children in Latvia victimised by either experience of domestic violence or human trafficking or even economic inequality and insecurity.

In average, MARTA helps around 400 women each year to leave their abusive relationships and provides around 1000 meetings by social worker, 300 sessions with psychologist and 800 consultations by lawyers.

MARTA is a non-governmental organisation in Latvia, dedicated to advocacy of women and children rights. MARTA is always looking for innovative and comprehensive solutions, based on best practices around the world to help women and children in complicated life situations and suffering from violence and abuse.

MARTA provides professional help to women and children in need, supports youth in their personality development and believes that the change is possible, when people both actively participate with their ideas and influence political decisions.